That Was The Week That Was: Anniversaries and Milestones From Motorsport's Past

July 25

1973: American biker Kenny Roberts Jr was born. The son of three-time 500cc World Champion ‘King Kenny’ Roberts won the title himself for Suzuki in 2000 and claimed eight GP victories for the Japanese marque between 1999 and 2000.

1982: René Arnoux won the French GP for Renault in controversial circumstances after ignoring team orders that dictated his team-mate Alain Prost, better placed in the championship, should win. The event marked the end of Goodwood favourite Jochen Mass’s career. He survived a huge crash with burns to his hands and retired from the cockpit on the spot.

1993: Alain Prost took his 51^st and last Grand Prix win in the German GP at Hockenheim. His Williams-Renault FW15C defeated the Benetton-Ford of Michael Schumacher by 16 seconds, with Briton Mark Blundell third for Ligier.

July 26

1925: Italian ace Antonio Ascari was killed in the French GP at Montlhéry. The 36-year-old crashed his Alfa Romeo P2 while leading the first race at the Parisian circuit. His son Alberto would become one of the greats, winning two world titles for Ferrari in the early 1950s.

1992: Hockenheim’s German GP was won by Nigel Mansell. It was the Briton’s eighth win of the season for Williams and his 4.5-second victory over Ayrton Senna’s McLaren meant he could clinch the title next time out in Hungary…  

July 27

1986: Keke Rosberg started the German GP at Hockenheim from his fifth and final career pole position – his only front-row starting spot during his season with McLaren. He eventually finished fifth, while Williams’ Nelson Piquet won the race from Ayrton Senna’s Lotus and the second Williams of Nigel Mansell.

1997: After a three-race lay-off due to illness and the death of his father, Gerhard Berger returned to action for Benetton in the German GP. The Austrian took pole and a comfortable victory – his 10^th and last in F1. It was also the 27^th and final win for Benetton.

July 28

1961: Four-time Le Mans 24 Hours winner Yannick Dalmas was born. The Frenchman won the great race for Peugeot in 1992, Porsche in ’94, McLaren in ’95 and BMW in ’99. He also contested 23 Grands Prix for Lola, AGS and Larrousse between 1987 and ’94, scoring a best result of fifth in the 1987 Australia GP for Lola.

1996: Damon Hill did the treble at Hockenheim, taking pole, victory and fastest lap for Williams in the German GP. It was only the second time the Briton had done it in what would be his title-winning year, the first coming in the Brazilian GP earlier in the season.

July 29

1946: Happy 70^th birthday to the original motoring ‘Stig’, Swedish rally legend Stig Blomqvist. He contested 122 World Championship rallies, in Saab, Lancia, Talbot, Audi, Ford, Peugeot, Volkswagen, Nissan, Opel, Skoda, Mitsubishi and Subaru machinery, between 1973 and 2006, winning 11 of them and securing the 1984 Drivers’ World title.

1951: Alberto Ascari took the first of his 13 Grand Prix wins, taking his 4.5-litre V12 Ferrari 375 to victory in the German GP at the Nürburgring. The Italian finished half a minute ahead of Juan Manuel Fangio in the 1.5-litre supercharged Alfa Romeo 159.

1973: The Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort claimed the life of talented British racer Roger Williamson after he crashed his Tom Wheatcroft-run March 731 on the eighth lap. Fellow Brit David Purley tried in vain to rescue Williamson from his upturned car, for which he was awarded the George Medal for bravery’. The race was won by Jackie Stewart, who led team-mate François Cevert to a muted Tyrrell one-two, with James Hunt making his first appearance on an F1 podium.

1979: Alan Jones’ second career win came in the German GP. It was the Australian’s first victory for Williams, to add to his one-off success for years earlier. Jones led Clay Regazzoni to the British team’s first one-two, with Jacques Laffite’s Ligier in third place.

1981: Fernando Alonso was born. The only Spaniard to win a World Championship Grand Prix, he’s racked up 32 victories – for Renault, McLaren and Ferrari – to date and took a drivers’ title double in 2005/’06 for Renault.

July 30

1967: The bewinged, Chevrolet-powered Chaparral 2F of Phil Hill and Mike Spence won the BOAC International 500 at Brands Hatch, round 10 of that year’s World Sportscar Championship. They beat the works Ferrari 330 P4 Spyder of Chris Amon and Jackie Stewart and the factory Porsche 910 of Bruce McLaren and Jo Siffert in the six-hour race.

1981: Former MotoGP World Champion Nicky Hayden was born. The ‘Kentucky Kid’, who made his Festival of Speed debut last month, won three races and lifted the 2006 title for Honda. He quit MotoGP at the end of 2015 to race in the World Superbike Championship on a Honda Fireblade. He currently lies eighth in the points after winning the second race at Sepang in May.

2000: Brazilian Rubens Barrichello joined his heroes and countrymen Emerson Fittipaldi, Carlos Pace, Nelson Piquet and Ayrton Senna as a Grand Prix winner thanks to his maiden victory for Ferrari in the German GP. Barrichello benefitted from a safety-car period, ironically triggered when a disgruntled former Mercedes employee decided to walk along the track edge. His actions ruined any victory chances for Mercedes-powered McLaren drivers Mika Hakkinen and David Coulthard.

2003: British motorcycling hero Steve Hislop was killed in a helicopter crash in his native Scotland, aged 40. ‘Hizzy’ was a crowd favourite on the British Superbike scene, finally lifting the title in what was his last full season in 2002. He also won 11 Isle of Man TT races between 1987 and 1994.

July 31

1954: Argentinian racer Onofre Marimon, a protégé of the great Juan Manuel Fangio, was killed at the Nürburgring after crashing his Maserati 250DF during practice for the German GP. He raced 11 times in the World Championship, all for Maserati, with a best result of third – in Belgium in 1953 and in the British GP at Silverstone in his final race outing.

1978: Justin Wilson was born. The British single-seater ace finally graduated to Formula 1 in 2003 with Jaguar, before moving to the States to make a name for himself in IndyCar racing. He won four ChampCar races and three IndyCar races during his 11 years, tragically losing his life at Pocono last years after being struck by debris from a rival’s car.

1980: Finnish WRC star Mikko Hirvonen was born. He won 15 rallies, 14 for Ford and one for Citroën, during a career that began in 2002 and ended in 2014.

1994: Colin McRae’s second career WRC victory came in New Zealand, scene of his maiden triumph in the Prodrive Subaru Legacy 12 months earlier. This time, the Scot was armed with the replacement for the Legacy, the all-conquering Impreza 555. He and co-driver Derek Ringer beat the Toyota Celica Turbo 4WD of reigning World Champion Juha Kankkunen by 2m14s.

2011: Jenson Button celebrated his 200^th Grand Prix start by winning the Hungarian GP for McLaren. The Briton started third on the grid and moved to the front in the wet-dry race to defeat the Red Bull of World Champion Sebastian Vettel by 3.5s.